Find a Vent

Today I had a mini-crisis with one of my coworkers. I stressed a little about maybe have worked on a project deliverable (very hard and many hours) in vain. It turned out my colleague had already completed this deliverable a few weeks back, and I hadn't heard about it.

Although I had not asked anyone if they were already working on it, it felt like it was natural being on my plate to do. Again I am reminded of the very important lesson:

NEVER ASSUME ANYTHING. EVER. It is always worth double checking and confirming clear understanding and responsibilities.

Anyway, I had a mini-crisis and didn't know how to confront my colleague, just being a few weeks into my new job. Should I just let it go or should I take some kind of action?

This blog post is not about how that issue got solved though. It is about a much more important thing: Finding a Vent. A vent is a person you can trust to flush out some minor issues with, as a prep for a confrontation. Someone who:

1) Does not report to you
2) You respect
3) Who can keep a confidence

I happen to stumble on my vent over a lunch meeting later in the day. Turned out to be the solution to my problems.

As mentioned in previous posts, sometimes it helps to just talk it out.

Later when I came home, I was a bit over-excited about to major meetings that I will have tomorrow. To calm down and shut down, to have a good break from all the new thoughts and ideas in my head, I started playing my piano. And then I had the idea of sharing my insight of venting on this blog today. Music, exercise, laughter, TV, family, friends....they are all very convenient channels for venting and changing gears. I am happy to have my piano to vent out frustration into my music. But also very happy about my new VENT at work.